Catch
by Completely Different
Summary: Lin's sure she's destined to become the first master of cable-swinging. However, she'll need to learn that even she might need someone to catch her. One-shot.


**Catch**

oOoOoOoOo

Lin didn't do sheepish. She was brash, confident and self-assured, just like any earth-bender should be. Nonetheless, if you'd spotted her lurking in the back-alley, looking around carefully to make sure no one else was there, sheepish was the word which would have popped into mind.

Satisfied that she was truly alone, the thirteen-year old girl checked her mechanical backpack, making sure it was secure. It was a strange looking device, not actually a bag designed to carry anything, but a spool of wires and gears secured by strong, leather straps. Reaching back she grabbed one and pulled to her shoulder and underneath her shirt's fabric, and with a single, fluid move, down her arm. There she secured it with another leather strap around her wrist, and repeated the process for her other arm, just like she'd seen her mother do a thousand times. The metal felt cool and reassuring against her skin.

She smiled. She could do this.

The earth-bender looked up, and spotted a railing on a balcony above. She pointed her right arm up, widened her stand, and with a strong upward punch sent the black metal wire flying into the air.

It hit the railing with a clang, spun around, and with a flare of Lin's fingers, locked around it. Tugging down lightly she could tell the wire was taught. She tensed, felt the strength of the ground beneath her feet, and ordered the wire to retract. There was a whirring of gears, and then Lin was flying in the air.

For a few glorious seconds she was propelled upwards; as she approached the railing it took only a moment for the lithe girl to flip and land on the balcony with a clang. Success!

She looked up. The building still towered above her, and all Lin could think was that she could not wait to reach the top.

There was a movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning, Lin found herself facing an apartment window. A little toddler's face was pressed against the glass, his expression agape. With a mischievous grin Lin saluted at the kid, shot another cable to the next balcony above, and left with little boy with an even more amazed expression and a story to excitedly tell his unbelieving parents.

It took Lin less than a minute to reach the top of the building, with nothing but the strength of the wires and the wind in her hair as company. As she flew higher and higher any nervousness she'd had before quickly died; this was amazing!

At the top of the building Lin looked out over the city, savouring the view. She could see all across the city, from the snow-capped mountains inland to Yue Bay. The salty sea wind ruffled her short cropped hair, and Lin couldn't help but feel a swell of pride at everything from the sweeping sky-scrapers to the sprawling park.

Of course, that pride faltered a bit, replaced by fear, when she noticed just how high up she was.

Heights had been the bane of her existence growing up. She was an Earth-Bender and never felt more comfortable than when her feet were firmly planted on the ground. Of course, it was just her luck that she was personal friends with the only air-benders in the entire world, and trips on their flying sky bison was their default mode of transportation.

It had been Tenzin who had convinced her, just years before, that there was nothing to fear from heights. "It's not the air that's dangerous- it's the ground!" he had said teasingly, jumping into the sky and gracefully floating down.

That had sounded like complete garbage to her at first. Besides its use in breathing, air seemed basically useless to her. It was only when she realised that if the ground really was the only dangerous thing about falling, then Tenzin was right- she had nothing to fear. All you had to do was be stronger than the ground you were hitting. That's what being an earth-bender was all was about!

That said, staring down at the streets so far below her, Lin couldn't help but feel a shadow of her old fear. It felt like the urge to throw up.

She silently ordered herself to get her act together. She let out a few calming breaths and forced herself to relax.

Once again Lin looked out across the city, this time with a more appraising eye. She was not watching the carts, auto-mobiles and people scurrying through the streets like ant-roaches. Instead she surveyed the buildings, now almost all tall sky-scrapers made of metal and brick, covered in balconies, railings and outcrops. There were a million places for a wire to catch…

Across the street she spotted the perfect spot. In a flash her metal chord had whipped across the gap, and embedded itself in the brick. A quick tug showed that it was deeply stuck, and wouldn't come loose without earth-bending.

No point in delaying. Carefully she stepped onto the ledge, staring straight forward, refusing to look down….

…and then, Lin Bei Fong jumped.

oOoOoOoOo

"So, you hear from Sugar Queen recently?"

"Yeah, I got a letter from her just last night," said Aang, sipping the last of his tea. "The project seems to be going well, but Katara says there's really a limit to what she can do. A single water-bender is pretty useless in the grand scheme of things- she says the Fire Nation needs a better irrigation system if they want any significant improvement. "

"You wouldn't think throwing water on a bunch of crops would be that difficult, eh?" Toph scoffed.

"Well, it's a little more complicated than that…"

The master earth-bender rolled her eyes. "I know that, Twinkle Toes. I was joking."

"Oh. Right," said Aang, sheepishly. "I knew that."

"If you ask me, you need to lighten up. You don't need to be the Avatar all the time. And don't give me any of that responsibility garbage either; the world doesn't end because you take a break for a couple of hours."

Aang wouldn't admit it to her, but Toph was probably right. Between the governing of the city, the hundreds of letters asking for his consultation, Katara being out of town and the kids being more trouble than a bucket full of squirrel-monkeys he was definitely feeling more than a little bit frazzled.

The visit to Toph's place had almost been as relaxing as a long period of meditation, even if she joked that he was being as stiff as a boar-q-pine needle. Toph's attitude had a way of making all the world's problems seem to disappear. And if they didn't, she'd yell at them until they did.

There was a gentle chime behind them; Aang turned to look at the clock-work time-piece hanging on a wall. "Speaking of responsibilities, don't you have to be at the station right now?

"Well, officially," Toph said, getting up and grabbing her armored vest from the nearby counter. "I like arriving a little late sometimes, though. Keeps them on their toes. If I catch them loafing off when I'm not around, well…" She didn't finish the sentence; her evil smile said more than words ever could. Aang sure hoped that for their own sake the cops' own sake that they were ready for their chief's arrival, or she would dole out punishments worse than anything even the spirits could inflict.

The two old friends chatted a little more as Toph suited up; about work, the weather, general things. However, Toph soon grew distracted, and began ruffling through drawers and closets.

"What are you looking for?" asked Aang, curious.

"My metal chords." She stomped her feet, partly out of frustration, but mostly to send a million of little vibrations through the ground. Toph had a house made completely of stone- that way she could sense everything that happened in the building, despite her blindness. "I can't find them anywhere!"

"I haven't seen them…where did you last put them?"

"Right here!" she said, pointing to the first drawer she'd checked.

"Are you sure?"

Toph crossed her arms. "Yes."

"Well, then, I suppose someone must have taken them," Aang said, only half joking.

The earth-bender snorted. "Yeah, right. I'm the Chief of Police. Nobody is stupid enough to take anything from me."

There was a short pause before Aang asked, "Have you seen Lin recently?"

Toph's eyes narrowed. "She _wouldn't_."

Aang had many possible responses to that. He could have noted that Lin Bei Fong was the daughter of a girl who had participated in an underground earth-bending competition and run away from home at the age of twelve. He could have pointed out how for the New Year Lin asked for her own pair of handcuffs, and when she hadn't received them, proceeded to make her own. He could have reminded her how a seven-year-old Lin had once tried playing a game of cops and robbers using _real_ robbers she'd found in the jail cells. He didn't say any of that, though, because he could see all of those things running through the mother's head. After a moment, she began storming out the front door. "I'm going to kill her!"

The Avatar flew after her, his orange robes fluttering in the sudden breeze. "Wait! Station, remember?"

She swore. "Oh, she is doubly dead now."

Toph was out into the street in seconds, and literally slammed the metal door behind, so that Aang was forced to quickly leap through it before it closed, jump over her head and land in front of her. She actually growled at him and tried to push him aside, but Aang didn't let her. "Wait! Toph, how about I go look for her?"

"No."

"C'mon, Toph, I'm good with kids! I'll find Lin, no problem."

She was uncertain, but after a few moments of hesitation, she relented. "Fine," she muttered, setting off down the street. "Unless something big happens, I'll be back by nine. Don't go easy on her."

Aang waited until she was all the way down the street, and made sure she was fully out of range, before breaking down with laughter. Toph was so serious! Honestly, running off to play with her mom's equipment was nothing compared to some of the stuff Toph herself had gotten away with when they were kids…

Aang was still chuckling when he found Appa in Toph's yard. He leaped gracefully onto the creature's head, picking up the reins. "Yip yip!" he called, the huge sky bison rising into the sky.

_Toph's got nothing to worry about, _he thought to himself. _She's probably just mucking about in the park or something…_

oOoOoOoOo

It was like the world had fallen away beneath her feet.

There was wind, and everything was a blur, and it felt like her stomach was in her mouth, and all Lin could think was that she was going to die, and she shut her eyes, certain that she was going to crash straight into the ground, and _oh spirits why had she done this_?

Then there was the reassuring strength of the metal chord; she could feel its power in her arm, pulling her up, above the traffic, back into the sky. Her eyes flashed open wide in exhilaration. The first swing couldn't have lasted more than a couple of seconds but the moment seemed to stretch so long that Lin felt like she could have painted a picture. Across the street she spotted another building, and with perfect timing she sent her second cord flying. With a satisfying crack it embedded itself in the building; at the exact same moment she retracted her first hook, and without the smallest change in speed, she kept on swinging.

She fell into a steady rhythm. At the height of her swing, where it felt like she was actually flying, her chords would fly, hitting their next target. The downward swing would start, gravity pulling her inexorably towards the ground, only for her to be pulled up at the last moment. Lin began to build up speed, gaining momentum. She'd turn corners, shoot over bridges, come in low to the ground, so that her feet would just brush the top of carts on the road. People started looking up, staring and pointing. Lin couldn't hear what they were saying, but the amazement in their voices carried anyway. She laughed with pure delight.

Nothing, _nothing_ could compare to this!

This must be the freedom that Tenzin always went on about! She could go anywhere! It was pure speed, with nothing but the strength of the metal to protect her. As she sent chord after chord, hooking onto buildings left and right, diving up and down. The wind in her face, the sounds of the city all around her, metal's power in her arms- this was the most amazing thing she'd ever done!

Lin couldn't believe it had taken herself so long to try it. She'd first seen the technique almost a month before hand, when she'd gone to visit Mom at work. Lin had always loved the station, ever since she'd first visited as a little girl. Everything was so big and official and important. From the shiny metal floors, to the polished brass railings, and the beautiful plaques on the walls, everything was so _important_. Lin's favourite part was the training hall, a room so big that it could house a blimp. It was filled with all sorts of training equipment; pits of every type of earth imaginable, from sand to concrete, punching bags, moving targets, obstacle courses. Every weekday the place was filled with recruits learning the ropes, or even old timers keeping their skills sharp. That day, though, over half the hall was set up with a strange jungle-gym like thing. Railings set up along the sides, temporary brick walls creating a maze of sorts. Cops in training gear stood in a line at the side; Lin had watched in confusion as one launched their regulation metal cords, hooking it around one of the railings. Then he had jumped, swinging on it like a monkey-squirrel on a vine.

Confused, she had wandered over to mom, who was overseeing the session. "What are they doing?"

"It's a new idea one of my lieutenants came up with. We can't be everywhere, and traffic is slow, so he thought that maybe we could use metal bending to get around faster."

"Does it work?"

Mom had shrugged. "Don't know. We're just testing it. Personally, I hate it. I can barely see."

Lin, though, had been enthralled by the idea. Of _course_ mom would hate it; without her feet on solid ground she was as blinder than a wolf-bat. Whatever Toph said, it looked really, really cool. She had to try it.

It had taken days to work up the courage to try, and it had taken weeks more to summon the courage to steal equipment from mom. Lin prided herself on being brave, but she wasn't stupid. If she was caught Mom would probably have _years_ of painfully imaginative punishment in store.

But all Lin could think now was that even if she was found out, it was so _worth it_.

Her heart soared as she rose upward again, gracefully swinging onto the main-street. Here at the peak of her swing she felt like a queen, and she never wanted it to end. Even as she began to pitch forward into her descent, all she had to do was send her line to the other side of the main-street.

...but her hook fell short.

Flying at such a dizzying speed, distracted by the adrenaline, Lin had misjudged the distance, and just as she retracted her last cable, her hook missed the target by mere inches. She started to fall.

She didn't lose control. The ground held no danger to her; she prepared to summon the earth from below, to bring something up to catch her- but when she looked down, she was not confronted with an open stretch of earth, but a road so jam-packed full of carts and people that she couldn't even see the ground beneath their feet. She could have broken through, but not without destroying the streets, crushing all the carts and people below! She couldn't do that! She couldn't!

Hysterically, she started to flail, with no idea what to do. She was going to die, she was going to die, **shewasgoingto**_**die**_!

With a jolt, she stopped falling.

Panicked, Lin thrashed her head around, trying to see what happened. Above her was Aang, clutching at her cable desperately in one hand, while still trying to stay aloft on his glider. He had swept in to save her! Unfortunately, the turbulent city winds and the extra weight of a girl hanging off were clearly making this difficult. The glider jolted up and down, and Aang strained to keep his grip on the thin, smooth wire, with only his skill in Earth-Bending to stop it from immediately slipping from his hand. There was a sickening jerk as a heavy gust of wind shook them both, and Lin dropped a few inches, her momentary relief at being saved being replaced by dread. If the Avatar, Master of All Four Elements, couldn't save her…

She stared up at Aang, silently pleading.

He let go.

Lin fell, and screamed.

"AAAAAAAHHHH- oomph."

Lin's heart-wrenching shriek was cut short as a landing on something surprisingly soft knocked all the air out of her lungs. Now more confused than afraid she forced herself to her knees. She wasn't falling anymore, but flying, the sides of buildings whipping by. "Appa?"

The sky-bison beneath her made a grumble of assent. Lin collapsed onto the saddle, never having been so happy to see the creature in her life. Aang hadn't dropped her at all! He'd held her up for as long as he could, biding her precious time as Appa swooped in to catch her.

Just as she was regaining her breath Aang swooped down in a flash of orange robes. He didn't land Appa's head to steer as he almost always did, but instead came right to the girl's side, pulling her into a hug. "Are you alright?"

"Ye- yeah," she said, stammering a bit, and hating herself for it.

"Good," he said, pressing her even closer to his chest. Lin had long since grown too old for hugs, but she didn't mind this time. After several long moments he let go, and looked her straight in the eyes, his expression turning from relieved to serious. "What exactly were you _doing_, young lady?"

"Metal-bending."

"I can see that," Aang said, pulling at the metal chords which Lin realised were still dangling uselessly from her sleeves. "I meant, what possessed you to steal your mother's equipment and start jumping from building to building like a delirious spider-squirrel?"

Lin stared down at her lap, refusing to meet the Avatar's eyes. "Nothing."

"That was incredibly irresponsible! If I hadn't been there do you know what could have happened?"

The girl was too ashamed to answer.

"You could have died, Lin! Do you understand that?"

Still Lin didn't speak.

"I said, _do you understand that_?"

"I just…I just wanted to be like you guys."

Aang blinked, his expression softening slightly. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you and Mom and Katara and Sokka- you guys were saving the world when you were my age! Mom had invented metal-bending by the time she was twelve! I just wanted to do something cool like that."

"Oh, Lin," Aang said, sighing. "You don't need to be like us. The stuff we did in the war…well, we didn't do it because it was fun or cool. We did it because we had too. You have no idea how wonderful it is that you kids can be just that- kids. You don't need to…prove anything. You just need to be you, and enjoy childhood. Got it?"

She nodded. "Got it."

He smiled, and began crawling to Appa's head to steer, only to pause. "That said- it _did_ look really cool. Was it fun?"

Lin side-eyed the adult warily, trying to spot another reprimand coming, but Aang's expression was eager and innocent. "Oh yeah."

"Well, how's this? I'll try to get your mom to take it easy on you….if you promise to teach me how to do that."

Lin stared. "_What_?"

"You heard me. I want to learn. It looks more fun than riding cheetah-hounds!" The expression on his face was pure, sincere excitement, and the girl couldn't help but grin in response.

"Uh, sure! No problem." She didn't mention that the whole thought of her, just a normal, boring kid teaching **the** Avatar, the world's greatest hero to do _anything _seemed absolutely laughable. But then, Aang always liked a good laugh.

The ride how was a peaceful, even fun, affair. Aang didn't immediately point Appa in the direction of home, instead opting for a meandering trip through the city. He often waved down towards the people below, even addressing folks by name. They stopped by a street vendor and grabbed some dumplings; Aang even knew the lady running the booth, and asked how her family doing. If it turned out that Avatar Aang knew everyone in the city, Lin reflected as she happily chewed her dumpling, it wouldn't surprise her in the least.

After nearly an hour of flying Appa landed in the Bei Fongs' garden, and Lin slid down his tail, secretly thankful to be back on ground again. She almost immediately headed into the house, only to turn back at the last second. "Thanks," she stammered, suddenly awkward. "Y'know, for saving me."

"No problem. We all need a little help sometimes." He smiled. "Just is a little more careful next time."

She nodded, and ran into the house.

oOoOoOoOo

**Thirty-Seven Years Later,  
**Equalist** Attack on the Pro-Bending Stadium**

Lin felt as though her entire body had been pounded with a thousand hammers. She could feel burns and bruising growing beneath her armour. Enemy fighters darted around her like poison-arrow sparrows. Her head thundered with an oncoming migraine, and in the stands below the sickening screams of civilians echoed, taunting her.

She was in her element.

The Equalist air-ship was quickly pulling up, taking its fighters and leader with it. The Chief of Police knew she couldn't let her quarry escape; quickly, she threw her metallic whip upward, the chord curling around the ship's extended platforms, catching it. She put all her weight into her stance, forcing the blimp down with pure force of will.

Her enemies reacted quickly, sliding down the ropes and ambushing her from all sides. Before Lin could even react they'd jabbed her in the back with one of those electrified kali sticks; she screamed, collapsing, as what must have been hundreds of volts of electricity coursed through her body. She desperately tried to regain her bearings and get to her feet, for she could hear more fighters converging on her, and she knew what the cost would be if she were caught…

It seemed, however, that capture would be her fate. Just as Lin was realising that she couldn't recover in time she felt a sudden burst of heat and light, and one of her attackers fell and rolled away. Wrenching her eyes open she saw the young Avatar Korra, wielding fire-ball after fire-ball, sending her attackers scattering. The girl was impressive; she leaped gracefully off the fallen warrior's back, kicking flames onto his companions. A third fighter lunged, and Lin was sure he was about to send a sparking kali stick straight through Korra's stomach, but the teenager grabbed her assailant and flipped him, quickly following through with a burst of flame.

Lin forced herself to her feet as the young Avatar chased after her prey, the two dueling furiously, neither quite grabbing the upper-hand. The two other fallen Equalists were recovering too, however, and about to leap into the fray. Whatever Korra's talents, Lin doubted she would fare well in a three-on-one battle, and sent two whips out. The fighters grunted as the cords wrapped around their abdomens, sending them spinning to the floor once again.

She glanced up; the air-ship still had not left, clearly waiting to salvage its warriors. Surely it would not wait much longer, for the Equalists would not risk capture. This would be her last chance to catch them, to bring the terrorists to justice. With her metal chords acting as grappling hooks she propelled herself upwards, lunging towards her quarry.

Below Korra's battle raged on. She ducked and countered; the Equalists did the same. The two kept nearly hitting, their opponent always dodging at the last second. Finally, though, the Water Tribe managed to win a series of hits. The terrorist was knocked to the ground, and even though he quickly flew back to his feet, Korra kept the pressure on, forcing him back. His counter-attack was blocked, and she finished with a flaming kick, knocking him of the glass dome and plunging off the side of the building into the harbor below.

She landed on her feet with a heavy _thunk_.

The smug grin on the bender's face was wiped clean as she heard the distinctive sound of breaking glass…

The ceiling collapsed beneath her feet, and she screamed as she began to plummet into the arena below.

Still dangling from the air-ship, Lin stared down, debate and uncertainty raging through her mind in a split second. If she felt now, the Equalists would escape, victorious, and she, Chief Lin Bei Fong, head of the Republic City Police Force, would have failed.

But what, a small voice in the back of her head countered, would be a greater failure than letting the Avatar die?

Lin let go, and plunged into a dive.

Wind whipped past her face as she cast out chords like a web, using them to propel her faster and faster. Smoke from the bombs surrounded her; she could hardly breathe, let alone see, but somehow one of her chords managed to hook onto a flag, and Lin shot a wire towards the falling girl, who despite her fear reached out and caught it….

Together the two of them swung out of the smoke of the explosion, and swept towards the stand. Lin jumped easily to the ground, but Korra fell inelegantly, gasping with pain as she slammed into the floor, but she was, at least, alive.

Lin pulled the Avatar to her feet. "You alright?"

"I'm fine. Thanks to you."

"Don't mention it, kid." She stared up through the now decimated class ceiling as the air-ship flew off into the night. "Looks like we lost this one."

And they had, no doubt about it. A city symbol lay shattered, the people's faith in the police crushed, innocents needlessly hurt….there would be a reckoning, Lin knew, and the aftermath of this night would not be pretty.

One thing which would act as a consolation in the coming days was the sound of Korra and her friends reuniting, happy just to be alive and together, and the knowledge that a debt had been repaid to one of her own old friends. Aang, she thought, would have been proud.

oOoOoOoOo

**Author's Note: **Hiya, everyone! When I was watching episode six a big part of me squeed over the fact that Aang and Lin "got along famously", and I just knew that I needed to write something with the two of them. I absolutely love Lin's character, and I can't help but hope that she and Korra become closer.

Thanks for reading, and I'm always happy to read constructive criticism.


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